bias

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbaɪ.əs/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French biais (“a slant, slope; sideways”),^[2][3][4] from Old Provençal biais, of uncertain origin,^[2][3] perhaps irregularly from Greek ἐπικάρσιος (epikársios, “oblique, athwart”),^[5][6][7] which, according to Bloch and Wartburg, may have reached Provençal through the Greek colonies of southern France.^[2] The Greek is from epi, upon, and karsios, oblique, from PIE Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to cut”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An oblique or diagonal line: 1530, in Palsgrave.^[2][8][3]

Semantic evolution

In the game of bowls it was the weighting of a bowl on one side so that it curves (1560s, 1570 in the OED);^[3][8] from this came the figurative one-sided tendency of the mind (1570s, 1589 in the OED), at first especially in law, undue propensity or prejudice.^[3][8] The adjective, slanting, is from 1551,^[8] and in dressmaking, cut diagonally across the weave (on the bias), from 1815.^[8] The verb is from the 1610s literally and the 1620s figuratively.^[3] In electronics and statistics it has later technical senses.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 1530 – an oblique line.^[2][8]
• 1551 – slanting (adjective).^[8]
• 1570 – in bowls.^[8]
• 1589 – a one-sided tendency.^[8]
• 1610s – the verb.^[3]
• 1815 – cut on the bias.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A tendency to favour one side unfairly; partiality.
2. A line running diagonally across the weave of a fabric.
3. (statistics) A systematic distortion of a result.
4. The tendency of a bowl to curve, from its weighting.
5. (electronics) A steady voltage applied to a device to control its operation.

Verb

1. To influence unfairly; to prejudice.

Word family

• biasness
• unbiased
• bias tape

Related words

• biased
• prejudice

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins